Paradise for Sale
by wimseyfive87
Summary: A sequel of sorts to the AU Escape from Hell to Paradise. Elizabeth has lost her faith and given up - can David save her or is it too late for them both? Rated M for some heavy subject matter.


_Author_ ' _s note: I had this idea as a sequel of sorts to Escape from Hell to Paradise years ago. It fought me for along time. So did life. It's really hard for me to actually write a story, the ideas are easy, the actually completion of them is hard. I've managed to finish this story now that Alien: Covenant has come out. Obviously, this AU David lost his homicidal God-complex tendencies when Weyland died. So it really doesn't play into Covenant at all, but that's ok. That's the whole point of AU. There might even be a Walter/Daniels fic on the horizon. I hope folks enjoy this story anyway. I really do love Elizabeth Shaw and David as characters. Maybe they can have some AU adventures later on._

Paradise for Sale

The cliff was raw, broken. At night, the crevices and boulders stood out like broken teeth. The ocean crashed against the bottom, eating and then vomiting up the rocks below. Even in the rain, the white caps shone clearly in the night.

Dr. Elizabeth Shaw stood shivering at the edge of the cliff, rain soaking through her clothes, hair and skin. Behind her, the Amazonian jungle spread out like a vast, silent wall, blocking her from her past. Below her, the ocean beckoned to her future. Above her, the storm raged, lightening criss-crossing the sky like jagged scars made by a madman.

She had been standing at the top of the cliff for a time now lost to her. The rain, the storm and her racing emotions had made her cold and numb. She had come out here with the vague hope that the storm would clear the chaos of her mind. Instead, it had only amplified the misery inside of her. She could almost taste the bitterness in her heart.

It had been 10 years since her ill-fated voyage to the stars on board the Weyland Corporations's Prometheus. She had started out with the naivety of a child, exploring the stars with her partner and a rough band of adventurers/scientists. They had been looking for her Engineers - the givers of life on Earth. During her quest, Elizabeth learned that her Gods were cold, awful demons that considered humanity an experiment gone wrong - a contaminated petri dish. They had no desire to educate or save Earth. They had only wanted to blow it out of the sky - to scatter its ashes among the other cosmic dust and debris of the galaxy.

At first, after the Prometheus had crashed into the ground of the Engineer's lab planet, and an Engineer had tried to murder her, Elizabeth had wanted to take her fight to the stars. She had wanted to drive her stolen Engineers' spaceship into the heart of the aliens' capital and demand to be told why humanity wasn't worthy to live. Why did Earth have to die? Elizabeth hadn't gone far before she realized what a wasted trip it would have been. She would have been an ant screaming at the sandal of God. It would have been a suicide mission, a waste of her life. Plus, she might have led the Engineers to Earth and allow them to finish what the others had started.

Elizabeth shuddered. She had come home to this - a third-rate archaeological dig that sold most of their finds on the black market. They were nothing but grave robbers, barely staying ahead of the law. It was the only job she could find that was low profile enough to stay out of Weyland's overreaching orbit. When they finally found her, they would probably kill her. At this point, she was ready to let them. Before her mission of discovery, she had had hope - faith - belief that someone wonderful had created human life and had wanted mankind to find them among the stars. Now, she had nothing but a black, dark abyss where her faith had lived.

She stepped closer to the edge, her toes hanging over the abyss. The ocean crashed below her, the waves beckoning. She knew beneath the cold, dark waters, she would finally find peace. She didn't need the answers - she had learned them all the hard way 10 years before. What she wanted - needed - now was quiet. She needed a place where the nightmares could disappear and her mind would stop screaming in her ears.

Rain streamed down her face, mingling with her tears. The ocean blurred, the rocks became dark smudges. It was time. She took a deep breath and raised her leg for the final step-

"Elizabeth, stop!"

Solid arms of steel caught her just as she began to fall off the cliff. They wrapped around her waist and pulled her away from the edge.

"Don't do this, Elizabeth! Don't kill yourself!"

David. The man - machine whom she had loved aboard the Prometheus. Created by the Weyland Corporation to watch over the crew and aid Weyland himself on the journey. When she awoke early on the Prometheus and learned that Charlie, her lover, had died in his cryopod, he was the one who took her from the brink of insanity. He cared for her, protected her. Slowly, she lowered her defenses and found herself falling in love. All that changed when Prometheus reached the Engineers' planet and David's original programming took over. He had warned her that he would change, but she hadn't believed him. He was no longer a robot, but a man. Instead, he had betrayed her and almost killed her. She had reluctantly repaired him after the final fight with the Engineer and took him with her on her mission to the Engineers' homeworld only because she needed him.

David. Her carer. Her friend. Her lover. Her savior. Her betrayer. Her enemy. Her companion. Her partner. Android. Robot. Tin man. Man. He was a trickster with many different faces. Now, he was her savior once more.

"Let me go! Let me die!" she screamed, beating him with her small fists, kicking him with her feet. It was like knocking at a rock wall. She screamed and spit at him, tried to scratch his face and arms. She struggled and fought like a trapped wildcat who knew freedom was only inches away.

"David, let me die! I want to die!"

"No, I can't let you do that!" he shouted over the storm. She sobbed against him, collapsing against his solid chest. He held her to him a little more gently, to save her from falling to the ground.

"Please," she begged in between sobs. Her head was spinning, her throat was gasping for air. "Why can't you just let me die?"

"You know I can't do that," he said against her neck. "You have so much life left to live. I can't let you give up now."

"I hate you," she whispered as the sobs began to peter out. Consciousness began to fade around the edges of her vision, her stomach rolling like the ocean below them.

"I know," David answered. She could hear the harsh disappointment in his voice. As her legs finally collapsed beneath her, he scooped her into his arms as if she were nothing but a rag doll. She hooked her arms automatically around his shoulders as he began to walk through the jungle to their dig site.

She finally gave into the dark of the night. She finally found her peace and quiet. She doubted it would last, but she embraced the darkness as if clutching a life preserver. Meanwhile, the storm raged behind them as David marched through the jungle, one tin man carrying his heart in his hands. Soon, the jungle covered them again in silence as the storm raged on.

Elizabeth washed up from unconsciousness in waves. She could hear, feel, smell, taste and see lines, shapes and vague outlines of reality. Then the darkness would overtake her. She didn't fight it. She let herself be thrown around like a crashing wave inside her head.

Eventually, she would have to surface. She hadn't thrown herself off the cliff and into the ocean. She wasn't dead or even dying. For so long, she had wanted to die. To be robbed of that final option - to awaken with the roar of the ocean a distant growl in her ears - surprisingly, it didn't anger her.

Shivering, Elizabeth found herself curled up next to a glowing campfire. It popped and spit up embers that landed on her like raindrops. Her sleeping bag protected her from the fire. She could feel she was wearing dry clothes and her hair and skin was dry. She found herself shivering anyway. She couldn't tell if it was from the rain or her near suicide.

On the other side of the fire, a ring of tents stood dark, but she could hear random snoring and hiccuping. Those clowns had all drunk themselves to sleep after another fruitless day at the dig site. She could still smell the cheap wine and rum in the air. Idly, she wondered if they would even have missed her in the morning.

Slowly, she sat up, wrapping the sleeping bag snugly around her. A streaming cup of coffee appeared at her shoulder.

"Please, don't move too quickly. Your body has had quite a shock."  
David. Elizabeth could see him out of the corner of her eye. He sat perched on a log behind her, completely dry form the storm. He sat still as if any sound would spook her. She was suddenly reminded of when she awoke too early on the Prometheus. David was there with a blanket and a vomit pan. He had seen to her health before telling her the sad truth that her lover was dead. Instead of the normal grief that came attached with the memory, an eerie calmness rose in it's place. It was good not to feel a thousand emotions thrashing around in her brain. She embraced, even if it the feeling didn't last.

"Thank you," she whispered, her throat as raw as sand. The coffee both soothed and scraped her throat. She turned to see David watching her warily. She didn't know if he was concerned that she would pass out or throw herself into the fire.

"David, would you please sit by me? It's alright." He hesitated and then silently moved to her side. She stared into her coffee cup, suddenly ashamed.

"How long was I out?"

"Several hours. Our friends here didn't even notice you were gone. By the time I brought you back, they were so intoxicated they thought I was bringing more rum for them to drink. They ignored me soon enough so I could take care of you. It didn't take long before they passed out in their tents. They'll be out for hours. They didn't even know what was happening."

She looked at David. He had spoken with such surprise. It was as if he was surprised humanity could be so cruel. Why he hadn't seen it before, she didn't know. The agony on his face - the depth of emotion - this was the man she had grown to love on the Prometheus. This was not the killer robot that had coldly impregnated her with an alien monster at his master's bidding. Her eyes traveled to the scar that encircled his neck. Elizabeth had believed after Weyland's death, David had been freed. She had been too full of her own grief and pain to notice. Once back in the solar system, David had had every chance to leave her and find a new life for himself. Instead, he stayed by her side, no matter how much she hated and despised him.

"I'm sorry I tried to jump, David," she murmured, watching the ash fall gently into the night sky. "I thought it was the only path open to me."

"Elizabeth, you have a hundred paths open before you. You can't think that suicide is the only way to escape. I can't believe that."

She met his eyes. They were full of passionate grief and something deeper - warmer - and eternal. Did he really understand what she had been experiencing?

"It was my only answer to silence the pain in my head."  
"Why didn't you let me help you? Why didn't you talk to me?" he asked. He wasn't angry - just confused. She knew his biggest instinct or program was to help and she had shut him out. She had been shutting him out for a long time. She hadn't been able to trust him. And he still stayed by her side.

"I didn't want your help. I thought you might hurt me again."

"Elizabeth, you know that with Weyland gone, his programming, has ceased to function. I took over his overriding commands. In fact, I started to do so before he died. If he had noticed, he would have reprogrammed me immediately and the man you once knew would have been lost forever."

"I think I did notice it. The way you wrapped me in your lab coat after my surgery. That wasn't an action of a killer."

"I was only thinking of you. Even when Weyland was turning me into a monster, I was thinking of you."

Elizabeth stared into her empty coffee cup. Already, the shivering had stopped. Maybe David had allowed Elizabeth to take care of the alien inside of her, after he had impregnated her with it, against Weyland's orders. Or maybe he really was acting under Weyland's orders all along. It had all happened so long ago, but the pain it had caused was still so fresh. Usually, the grief and anger would rise up her throat by this point, causing her to drown in agony. Instead, her heart remained calm. Yes, David, had betrayed her, but she hadn't seen any evilness in him since Weyland had died.

She looked at David, remembering when he was a man and not a murderous robot. To her, he was a man then - a man experiencing deep, wonderful emotions for the first time. He was a man full of love for her that wanted nothing more than to learn about the universe with her. She couldn't imagine what 10 years of hate-filled silence from her would have done to him. He was right - he had done so much for her. He had warned her about the Engineer coming to kill her. He had piloted their stolen spaceship towards the Engineers' homeworld against his very strong wishes. He had then gladly turned the ship back towards Earth when Elizabeth had realized any confrontation with the Engineers would be a pointless waste. She was not ready to die then. Instead, she suffered and growled and spat at David whenever she had a chance. He wouldn't leave her side. Knowing the Weyland Corporation would likely kill both of them and steal the Engineers' technology, David had helped her ditch the spaceship near Pluto. He had helped her infiltrate a gang of space smugglers headed to Earth. He had agreed to stay with her as they worked on one sleazy archaeological dig after another. He never complained once. He had done so much for her - and all she had done in return was hate him and try to kill herself.

"Do you still love me, David?" she whispered.

"I do."

"Why? Why do you stay with me? I've hated you for so long. You could go anywhere in the solar system. You're a free man now. You know how to stay out of the Weyland Corporation's reach. You know how to survive. Why stay with me?"

"I don't know," he said with a frown. It was his turn to look for answers in the campfire flames. "I never thought of leaving you. It just made sense to stay and help you. I think I was hoping you would forget what happened with Weyland. I knew I could not, but I hoped you would. Then we could go back to what we were before."

"You did warn me you would change."  
"And you didn't believe me. I should have jumped off that cliff and not you. I could see how Weyland was turning me into an evil machine with no feelings. I couldn't stop him from his master plan. He wouldn't stop with just finding a way to prolong his life. He wanted to breed monsters - aliens. They'd be the perfect weapon in any war. And he would profit from it all."

Elizabeth should have realized at the beginning that Weyland had only used her and Charlie's theories as a way to help himself. They had been too dazzled by his money and his enthusiasm to see the truth.

"He was the monster, David, not you," she said, gripping his arm. Clad only in shirtsleeves, his skin felt cool to the touch. She realized that she hadn't touched him willingly in a very long time. There had been a time when she had memorized every inch of his perfect body.

"He was the evil killer, not you, David. You could have killed me at any point during that trip. You could have even let the Engineer do it. Instead, you kept saving me - no matter what happened."

"I can't forget what I did," he said, his eyes sadly turning towards her. "I will always see every detail, every color, every line so clearly. It is burned into my memory banks. But do you know what else is there?"

"No, what?"

"You. So many images, so many memories. Your voice, your touch, your scent. The way you used to smile with your eyes when you were excited. You caused me to feel so many emotions that I thought could only happen on film. I thought that I would never get to experience such brilliance, such love. I go back to those images and memories at night when everyone is asleep. I suppose you would call it dreaming. Even when the light in your eyes died and your love for me turned to hate - I still loved you. I found I couldn't stop - no matter what happened. I may have to keep those horrific memories of the Engineers, but I have the sweet daydreams of you and my existence makes sense again. I always believed in you - you were my light in the darkness."

For a long time, Elizabeth didn't speak. She stayed close to David, her hand on his arm. She watched the fire finally begin to burn out, the flames kicking up much less of a fuss. Daylight began to slowly lighten the sky above the jungle around them. It would be hours yet until the others woke up, hung over and irritable. For now, the world felt empty and full of promise. Everything felt young and new. Elizabeth finally felt a touch of peace - the first real peace she had felt in a long, long time.

"David," she said, slipping her hand into one of his. She intertwined her fingers with his long, slender ones. He bent his to look at them, as if in wonder. Elizabeth kept watching the fire.

"David, for a long time I believed in the Engineers. When Charlie and I discovered the truth behind the cave paintings - that was it. That was the meaning of my life. I wanted to meet them so badly so I could thank them for creating us, for inspiring us and for making every day a joy to live. And then when we learned what the Engineers really were -"

The synthetic man moved his hand to her cheek. She was surprised to feel her face was wet with tears. She smiled wetly as he brushed them gently away.

"I lost my faith. My whole sense of being was gone in an instant. When Charlie died, I still had the mission to finish. I put my whole being into that, knowing I would have you beside me. When the Engineers' plan was revealed, I didn't even have you anymore. I just couldn't process it at all. I was so lost. I had lost my faith and my two loves in one horrible journey. I've been coasting along ever since - so lost and alone. What's the point of living when humanity is just an experiment in a petri dish? I felt responsible for it all - for Charlie and the crew - even the Engineers' betrayal. I thought jumping was the only answer to my pain.

"Then you stopped me and I've realized there is a new world our there for me - a new path for me to tread. Yes, the Engineers as I knew them are gone, but that doesn't mean I have to completely lose my faith. I realized tonight that there are some things that the Engineers couldn't grow in their labs. Things like hope, fortitude and love. You taught me that, David."

She reached up to run a hand through his shaggy blonde hair. He hadn't been able to dye it blonde in recent weeks, but he still let it grow. It made him appear slightly rougher and more mysterious. Not that those grave robbers bothered to notice that he wasn't exactly a thug or human. She tugged at his hair gently, his blue eyes never left her own brown ones.

"I may have hated you for a long time, but I loved you even longer. Underneath it all, I never stopped."

Before she could say another word, his mouth was crushing her's with the passion of 10 pent up years. She gasped at the ferocity of his emotion, his hands burying themselves in her long auburn hair. She lost herself in his long, deep sensual kisses. Her heart opened up in the long forgotten joy of his touch. He seemed to be unable to stop kissing her - as if all those years had silenced tongue and he was now learning to speak again. He seemed to be begging permission to touch her soul. She was the one who had nurtured his soul - she was the one who had seen that he had a heart. Now he was begging her to take it, begging her to take him, begging her to let him inside her own heart. She smiled and opened herself wide open to him, letting him take it all.

David picked her up and practically threw her into the tent. It wasn't long before he was covering every inch of her body with hungry kisses and strong caresses. Everyone in the camp had assumed they were lovers since they always shared a tent or apartment or spaceship. The others on the various dig sites hadn't bothered to look too closely. If they had, they would have seen Elizabeth curl up away from David every night as he sadly watched over her from another corner of the tent. Now her body trembled for every touch, every kiss. She could barely contain the moans of pure joy he was creating, so he quieted her with deep, soulful kisses. Her emotions kept crashing over her in waves, waves of unbridled joy, lust and love. She threw her body against him over and over again as if he were the rocky coastline and she were the hungry ocean. Soon she was as weak as the last waves of the ocean after a hurricane has swept through. They caressed the sandy shores lovingly before leaving again for the infinity of the ocean.

Elizabeth laid next to David for what seemed like hours, watching the sun creep into the tent. Their limps were tangled together in sleepy bliss. Her heart was free and empty of all the pain and grief she had carried for years. The echoes were still there and always would be, but she knew she wouldn't have to feel their weight every day.

She rolled onto one elbow to look at him.

"Don't leave yet," he murmured, curling his fingers in her hair.

"We have a lot to do, David, if we want to leave here by nightfall."

He opened his eyes wide and sat up beside her. "We're leaving."

"Unless you like dealing with two-bit smugglers?"

"No, I've wanted to leave for weeks."

"Why didn't you tell me?"  
"I didn't want to leave you. I am nothing without you, Elizabeth. Even your hatred was enough for me."

"But, the way I treated you - you could have left any time, David. I'm not your master or your creator."

"Yes," he said, kissing her gently. "But you are all that I have."

She kissed him back softly and read his eyes for a long time.

"If we're going to stay together, I want you to tell me if you don't want to do something. You don't always have to agree with me. You are your own person. You have no master. We're equals - partners -"  
"Lovers?"

"Yes," she whispered as he caressed her cheek and then traced the outline of her lips.

"Soul mates?" he asked sadly, as if still doubting he had a soul. He had to stop doubting it. She had seen it too many times to not believe he had one.

"Always," she breathed and kissed him again. When she looked at him again, something like pure joy crinkled his eyes as he smiled at her. It was a look she hadn't seen in a long, long time. Slowly, he lost his smile and he looked serious again.

"I love you, Elizabeth."  
"And I love you. You're more human than any man I've ever known."

As they slowly dressed and began to pack their few possessions, Elizabeth felt brighter and freer than she had felt in years. It was as if the sun has broken through the clouds of her soul and shone it's brightness straight into her heart. The storm was gone - a new morning had dawned. She was ready to believe again in life and in hope and in love. She was ready for the next adventure to begin.


End file.
